


Close By

by Kalloway



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Schrödinger's Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 23:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17693303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Xander's surprise rock collection.





	Close By

**Author's Note:**

> 31 Days, Feb 6, 'Crystal'

"Here you go, Lord Xander." Laslow set the pair of books he'd retrieved from the castle's library down on Xander's desk and offered a little smile. "Do you need anything else?"

Xander looked up for just a moment, apparently considering. "I'm sure I will. Make yourself comfortable."

Laslow nodded but before he could decide where to sit that would make him look like he was attentively waiting and not just loafing, he caught a faint sparkle from the edge of the desk.

"What's that, Milord?" he questioned as he gestured at what, on second glance, seemed to be a piece of a quartz crystal.

"Mmm? Oh, Elise gave me that for my rock collection," Xander replied with the smallest of wonderful, genuine smiles. "If you'd fetch me the box off the that third shelf, I can put it away."

"I didn't realize you had a rock collection, milord." Laslow was quick to get the box, though. It would obviously have some other interesting treasures in it, and hopefully the stone he'd given... Hopefully. If it had truly been enough...

"I didn't either, until a certain retainer of mine started it," Xander replied.

Red-faced, Laslow brought the box back to the desk. It was small, wooden, and had a delicate silver latch on it that nevertheless took Xander no effort to open when offered.

There were only a few stones inside, which Laslow leaned to peer at.

"Oh." There was a variety, at least. About a dozen, all colors, not all gems but a few simple rocks. One looked... suspicious. "Is that..."

"It's from Peri and I chose not to ask," Xander said quickly as Laslow pointed. "Three are from Elise, though this one only looks interesting when wet..."

Xander pointed out each stone or gem, where it had come from and from whom... Peri, Elise, Camilla, Effie, Odin, Kaze, Nyx... But there was one impressively missing and hadn't Xander just said that...

"The one I gave you?" Laslow asked softly, wondering if the box somehow had a hidden compartment or something. Had it been lost after all? Or not kept for some reason? Traded, perhaps, for something he liked more?

There was another, unreadable smile on Xander's lips. "Where you keep the star that I gave to you?" he questioned.

Laslow knew he was blushing again and mumbled his way through the answer. "It's by my bed." So it would be the first thing he saw every day. "It means a lot to me..."

"Then do you think I'd keep a gift with equal emotion attached simply sitting in a box?" Xander questioned. His tone almost seemed playful but there was something more, deeper, and Laslow swallowed hard.

"Oh."

_Oh._


End file.
